Talk the talk, walk the walk.

Foundation for good technical consultants

Because a consultant’s value is assigned by the clients he serves and because those clients differ in their needs and desires, it’s not possible to quantify exactly what makes a good technical consultant any more than it’s possible to quantify exactly what makes a good manager.

But it is possible to define characteristics of a good consultant. Similarly, there are skills that are most often found in good technical consultants that are lacking in technical consultants who are not at the top of the pack.

If you want to improve yourself as a consultant, it’s important to learn about these characteristics and skills and to develop them. Whether you’re in a consulting organization or out on your own, these skills will improve your ability to exceed your client’s expectations.

Characteristics of good technical consultants

Beyond the obvious need to be flexible and ready to serve, there are two key characteristics that good technical consultants tend to share.

Long-term thinking
Good technical consultants tend to look for the long-term game. They recognize that working exclusively on short-term problems will eventually force them into being completely reactionary to customer problems. That’s a position that good consultants loath since it means a much higher level of risk and makes it difficult to plan for sustained success.

Drive to absorb more skills
Good technical consultants recognize that their technical skills are important no matter in what area they are helping clients. Some consultants do very tactical work and must keep their technical skills up to date. Others, who advise on more strategic issues, may need to maintain a wider breadth of technical knowledge and trends. As long as consultants continue educate themselves, they will increase their technical skills.

Skills of good technical consultants

The characteristics above are more about knowledge, thinking, and attitude. Skills are about action and what can be done. There are three key skills that good technical consultants tend to share.

Customer service
Customer service is more than just responding to the customer’s immediate needs. It’s learning to respond to customers in ways that make them feel good about being served. It’s about learning the personal side of the customer beyond the technical needs. Customer service is the intent to make the customer feel good about the interaction of hiring the consultant even when the technical resolution isn’t exactly what was hoped for. Good technical consultants practice active listening and control their enthusiasm in ways that make the customer comfortable.

Addressing customer problems
Every consultant has run into the customer who’s difficult to work with. Some customers are difficult because they’re too demanding, but most often the difficult client is the one who is incorrect about something very technical and has to be corrected. The good technical consultant uses techniques that allow customers to understand technical explanations.

Problem solving
Ultimately, consultants are hired to resolve a problem or to take advantage of an opportunity. Despite this, most consultants simply follow the directions given by the customer. The customer asks the consultant to set up a printer, and he sets up a printer. Most consultants — not the good consultants — blindly follow directions without learning more about the problems that the client is facing. Good consultants are hungry for problems to solve. They are fed by learning the root problems that are driving the customer and finding the best resolutions to those problems that they can.

Becoming a good technical consultant

If you’re already a good technical consultant, these characteristics and skills will challenge you to become better. If you’re aspiring to be a good technical consultant, this article lays out a roadmap for the things that you should be considering and working on.

(看来我最近比较钟情吃啊，这是第二篇食补贴了...)

 

Stop Aging, Start Living，主要是从食疗的角度谈怎么样有健康的皮肤。我觉得很像中医或是中国传统说
的由内而外的养生方法，所以决定同大家分享。

我自己有一些颇为头痛的症状，书中好像说得颇有道理，所以就有选择性地记在头
脑里，有可能不全面，但是希望抛砖引玉吧。

作者Dr. Graf说，人体最佳的状态应当是在弱碱性而不是酸性的。很多食物虽然尝
起来是酸味，但经过人体消化和吸收之后反而变成了碱性，所以是有利于健康的。
而几乎所有的肉和鱼都是酸性的。Dr. Graf推荐大家每天早上起床先喝一杯Alkali
nizing Cocktail，有助于身体保持碱性环境。其中包括螺旋藻，不过是optional的
，因为螺旋藻的味道太大，会影响Cocktail的口感。

肠道内要有足够多有益的细菌才会消化和吸收得好。如果antibiotic用得太多，或
是天生不足，可能这些有益的菌群就会不够，需要补充probiotics。我一直消化有
些问题。吃完东西如果立即坐下就会觉得bloated，但是如果散十分钟的步再回来，
就一点问题也没有（当然，也有可能是心理作用，怕长胖，所以吃完不想立即坐下
:-)心里暗示久了也就分不清真假了）。不过有一点是肯定的，如果我和一个和我体
重身高都差不多的中国女生吃同样多的东西，她肯定比我饿得快。妈妈说我新陈代
谢不好，所以手脚经常冰冷，体质畏寒。我想我可能真的缺一些probiotics，因为
小时候身体不好，一直到上中学前都非常经常地用强效抗生素来着。。。现在养猪
场不都给猪打抗生素让其长胖嘛，想我以前用那么多“毒”药，也许是时候解解毒
了。前两天去Wholefoods买了一瓶probiotics，不过还没开始吃。这两天在吃螺旋
藻。妈妈说她一直吃来着，对胃特别好，所以我先试试这个，要还是不行的话再加
probiotics吧。只有肠胃吸收好，身体才会有养份和水份----我平时喝水特别多，
但皮肤还是特别干，不知道是不是吸收不好的缘故。

书上还有一章讲life style的。找到自己感兴趣的事情，每周至少做两次或以上。
经常锻炼身体四次以上。每天深呼吸五分钟两次。每天要开怀笑一次。这些都是很
基本的事情，我现在基本上都在做（大笑可能要借助看The Office，不过也算吧:-
)。

另外，Dr.Graf建议大家要补钙，要多喝果汁，不要洗澡时间过长，不要用皂，要是
沐浴液等等，也是很common sense的东西，至少我想来这个版的jms都在这么做吧:
-)

还有一些我摘抄下来的resources，贴出来给大家看。她这么写可能有一些广告的成
份在里头，我们大家去粗取精，去伪存真就好啦！

Alkalinizing "Cocktails" -- 不是alcholic的哦，不许加vodka :-)

--Green powders帮助补充植物纤维和营养。doctorsfornutrition.com或gree
nsplus.com

--Fiber。Benefiber or Fiber-sure，这个超市好像经常看到来着。

--Spiralina (Optional)

Probiotic

推荐的品牌包括Natren.com, Microflora Balance, www.enzymedica.com

PH Test strip

Dr.Graf建议大家早上起床测一下ph值，看体质有没有好转。

www.ph-ion.com

www.vaxa.com

Daily Routine Organizer

Test saliva ph (should be 6.5~7.5)

Skin routine

Morning Cocktail

Probiotic supplement

Mineral suppletment with Calcium

Filter water

Fun activity

Exercise

Deep breathing (5 minutes, 2 times per day)

Laughter (once per day，我当然觉得多多益善啦，呵呵)

Relaxation（这个我认为结合瑜珈做最好了）

Evening skin care

Dark leafy greens

Organic Veggie

Fruit

下面是我最喜欢的部分，食物按吸收后的酸碱性分类。我会尽量挑碱性的吃啦，虽
然不吃肉是肯定做不到的，少吃就是啦:-)

Acid Forming Food

Alcohol (esp. mixed)

Animal & Fish protein (including all kinds of fish)

Artifical sweetner

All kinds of cheese

Coffee

Cooking oil (including conola, sesame, soybean, sunflower)

Eggs

Fast food

Refined flour

Icecream

Milk (cow and soy)

Pudding

Refined wheat product

White rice

Salad dressing (including caesar, french, ranch, thousand island)

Table salt

Snack food (including cracker, cheese puff, potato chips, pretzel)

Spread (butter,cream cheese, peanut butter, mayo)

Sweetner (brown sugar, corn syrup)

Vveggie (carrots, corn, pea)

Yiest

Alkanizaing Food

Culinary oils (flaxseeds, olive)

Dried fruit (raisins)

Fast food (Baked potato, fruit bowl, hash brown, salad)

Fruit (apple, arpicots, avacado,etc...)

Miso

Nuts & Seeds (almonds, cashews, chesnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seed
s)

Salad dressing (olive oil)

Spread (有一些，但我都不喜欢，所以就没抄下来:-(

Oats & Oatmeal

Green tea, Herbal tea

Veggie (almost all of veggies)

Gray areas

Black tea, brown rice, cranberry, figs, honey, maple syrup, rye prod
ucts, spinach, tomato, wheat bran, whole wheat, yogurt 

通宵达旦看碟、彻夜不眠加班……第二天一早，两只熊猫眼就成了“鉴证实录”的铁证。就算抹上厚厚的粉底，还是欲盖弥彰，令人苦不堪言。

正所谓“知己知彼，百战不殆”，想要彻底“歼灭”黑眼圈，就应该从其成因着手。据了解，黑眼圈大致可分为两种，一种是血管型黑眼圈，是由于眼眶周围的皮肤特别薄，而皮下的组织又少，一旦血液循环不佳或血管扩张，就形成了黑眼圈；另一种是色素型黑眼圈，是指因色素沉淀在眼眶周围而产生的黑眼圈。

形成上述两种黑眼圈的成因很多，除了体质遗传导致眼睛周围的皮肤天生黑色素较深外，吸烟饮酒、情绪低沉、思考过度或是熬夜引起睡眠不足等都会引起黑眼圈。此外，过敏性鼻炎等病患或眼部卸妆不彻底的色素沉淀和缺乏体育锻炼，使血液循环不良等日常生活上的其他因素，也会使人不知不觉产生“熊猫眼”。而，要将“熊猫眼”扼杀在萌芽状态之中，除了保证充足的睡眠、进行适量的有氧运动之外，均衡合理的饮食也是有效良方。

这里推荐五种食物，可以让你省却因购买昂贵奢侈的眼霜、眼膜而“大出血”，仅需在日常饮食中增加其摄入量，就能使你和黑眼圈轻松说拜拜了！

鸡蛋

由于鸡蛋中富含优质蛋白质，而蛋白质又能促进细胞再生，因此经常食用鸡蛋，增加蛋白质的摄入，对于缓解黑眼圈的形成是有一定功效的。但因人体每日最多只能吸收两个鸡蛋所含的营养，因此食用鸡蛋不宜超过两个。有些人习惯食用生鸡蛋，事实上，生鸡蛋极不易消化，还含有细菌，因此建议大家食用白煮蛋为最佳。此外，瘦肉、禽蛋、水产等也富含优质蛋白质，经常食用此类食物也有助于减少黑眼圈的形成，但由于鸡蛋的蛋白质组成和人体的最接近，所以吸收效果最好。

芝麻

芝麻乌发的作用人尽皆知，但其消除黑眼圈的功效可能就鲜人知晓了。芝麻富含对眼球和眼肌具有滋养作用的维生素E，从而能缓解黑眼圈的形成。既能使秀发乌黑靓丽，又能消除黑眼圈，一举两得，难怪有人将芝麻视为神奇的“魔法食物”。除了芝麻，富含维生素E的其他食物还有花生、核桃、葵花子等。

胡萝卜

除了维生素E能对眼球和眼肌有滋养作用外，维生素A也有此般功效。胡萝卜就是增加维生素A摄入量的不二选择，它能维持上皮组织正常机能，改善黑眼圈。此外，胡萝卜中所含的维生素A还有助于增进视力，尤其是黑暗中的视力。其他蕴含维生素A的食物还有动物肝脏、奶油、禽蛋、苜蓿、杏等。

海带

由于铁质是构成血红蛋白的核心成分。因此，补充适量的铁质能够促使血红蛋白的增加，从而增强其输送氧分和营养成分的能力，而海带富含铁质，所以经常服用海带，也能缓解黑眼圈的困扰。其他含铁质丰富的食物还有动物肝、瘦肉等。

绿茶

经常使用电脑者可饮用绿茶，补充特异性植物营养素，消除因电脑辐射引起的黑眼圈。绿茶所含有的浓缩多酚，能抑制自由基对皮肤支持纤维造成破坏，是今日一致公认最有效的抗自由基因子。多喝低咖啡因的绿茶不仅能消除黑眼圈，其含有的儿茶素，既能帮助身体脂肪代谢，而且对睡眠也有帮助，不仅可以安定睡眠质量，也让人比较不容易有疲劳感觉。

此外，外敷绿茶包也能起到减缓黑眼圈的作用。只需将饮用后的绿茶包放在冰箱里冰镇一会儿，拿出来敷在眼睛上20分钟，黑眼圈现象即可得到一定的缓解。